Sri Lanka’s US$4.4 billion tourism industry is now reeling from room cancellations as tourists snub the sun and sand in Indian Ocean Island after corona virus (Covid-19) threat looms in Colombo and suburban areas several weeks ago.
Tourism, which accounts for 5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, has suffered as tourists from around the world canceled hotel and flight bookings fearing the outbreak of the deadly disease.
Net hotel bookings dropped a staggering 186 percent on average over the week compared to the same period last year following the detections of new corona virus patients in the island, data from travel and tourism agency showed.
A decline of more than one hundred percent indicates more cancellations than bookings.
The hotel industry in Sri Lanka fears the worst after the Government was forced to ban arrivals from 11 countries recently.
The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL) said that they anticipate over 70 percent drop in occupancy over the next few days.
THASL Chairman Sanath Ukwatte said the hotel industry will find it difficult to recover from the latest crisis.
He said that some hotels will not be able to pay their staff salaries as they would be operating at a major loss.
Ukwatte said that the industry was still recovering from the Easter Sunday attacks last April and the coronavirus has had a serious impact on the recovery efforts.
(LI)